Building, maintaining and developing an international airport capable of satisfying the needs and wants of Brazil is no mean feat, but GRU Airport, based in São Paulo has more than risen to the challenge.

WRITTEN BY AMY TOCKNELL

FLYING HIGH

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GRU AIRPORT0055 11 2445-2945 WWW.GRU.COM.BR

Impressive expansion, but this is not the sum total of expansion developments which have been undertaken,

“We also built a garage building in only seven months, adding another 2,644 parking spaces for cars. Since the beginning of our administration, in 2012, the number of parking spaces has leapt from 3,900 to 8,000. Two new aprons were also built, increasing the number of aircraft stands from 80 to 124 and our boarding bridges increased from 25 to 45, providing more comfort to passengers during arrival and departure.”

The implementation of a private administration appears to have entirely transformed the GRU Airport and what is clear is that customers, their safety and satisfaction, remain at the forefront of any new plans,

“The main focus of the Concessionaire is to manage the airport, especially for the provision of adequate and safe infrastructures which serve as a platform for passenger air transportation.”

Naturally, however, in order to stay at the top of the industry, a certain element of diversification is necessary, something with the management team have not inly identified, but actively addressed,

“The airport business is comprised of many areas which can be commercially explored. Airport revenue is divided into two sources: aeronautical (passenger boarding fees) and non-aeronautical revenue (commercial, cargo, real estate development, parking lots and advertising space). These are the main business areas of the Concessionaire.”

In order to fully understand exactly how far the GRU Airport has come, it is vital to understand that until 2012, just three short years

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Initially founded in 1985, GRU Airport has just celebrated 30 years of successful operation, with the last three years being under new, private administration. The concession contract that led to the private takeover has been primarily focused on increasing capacity, as Miguel Dau, Director of Operations at GRU Airport explains,“At the beginning of the concession the big challenge was to expand operational areas, increase the airport’s capacity and thus offer greater comfort to passengers. Within this context, in only 19 months, we were able to increase the airport’s capacity from 30 million to 42 million passengers a year. With the opening of Terminal 3, we doubled the terminal area from 191,000 square meters to 387,000 square meters.”

ago, all airports located in Brazil came under the control of a state-owned company called Infraero. This naturally led to a homogenous approach to airport management, resulting in stifled progress and diminished development, but thanks to the private management initiative, six locations, including GRU are now enjoying a far more enthusiastic and business-forward administration. Miguel expanding further,

“In taking over the management of airports, the private initiative also committed to a series of expansion and improvement projects, as per the concession contracts, with very tight delivery deadlines. In Guarulhos, for example, the Concessionaire had to build a new 12 million passenger terminal in less than 2 years, as well as take on other construction projects to increase parking capacity and aprons. This was no doubt a big challenge for the Concessionaire and all the other airports that came under the private initiative.”

GRU appears to have leapt at the chance to improve its facilities, feeling enthused rather than intimidated by stringent deadlines,

“The end of the monopoly in the airport sector opened up an extremely competitive market, with very strong players all striving for the same goal; to make their airports attractive for new airlines and businesses. This means that from now on we will see great advances in the county’s aviation sector, driven, above all, by strong competition and the need to equip Brazil´s various terminals with

the best there is in airport infrastructure.”With dramatically improved facilities on offer, GRU has not

neglected other areas that were ripe for development. With a team of 1750 dedicated employees, all of whom are trained in accordance with a specifically designed position matrix, GRU Airport is able to make light work of living up to its primary objective,

“To be a reference in our industry, distinguishing ourselves for valuing people and guaranteeing their safety, for having our customers’ preferences in mind and for our exemplary conduct and superior business results.”

Even in this day and age, with large businesses striving to maintain loyal client bases, it is astonishing to encounter an organization that is so clearly and genuinely concerned with customer satisfaction. Speaking with Miguel about the importance of client happiness, he was emphatic,

“It is very important for us to receive feedback from our customers regarding service levels, be it from a passenger, a store owner or an airline. It’s pointless to provide a service if we don’t receive assessment from those who use it. With passengers, for example, we use a monthly satisfaction survey to identify improvement areas, which allows us to flag up action areas to improve quality. In a similar manner, we are in constant communication with airlines to identify infrastructure and operational deficiencies. But it is a

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two-way-street and we also want store owners and airlines to offer quality services, because when all is said and done, we all have the same customer, the passenger.”

Despite the impressive strides forward already made by the new administration team at GRU, they harbor no illusions about there still being much to be done, stating that it is impossible to entirely overhaul a 30-year old airport in just a few short years. They remain confident, however, that when all improvement plans have been carried out, GRU will be recognized throughout the world as a state of the art, exemplar facility.

In a bid to stay ahead of its competition, GRU is looking to emerging markets, such as Africa, the Caribbean and Asia, with a view to offering increased international flight destinations in response to a tangible demand. As GRU states,

“Connectivity is a core element for economic and social development and GRU is the right place to fly into.”

In addition to looking further afield, destination-wise, what other developments are on the horizon for the already significantly improved site? Miguel gladly opened up about current plans,

“In October 2014, we began the modernization of terminals 1 and 2, to bring them to the same infrastructure level of the new terminal, T3. The project should be completed by the second semester of 2016. We also started renovating the runway system,

to obtain code “F” certification, so that the airport is capable of receiving the largest aircrafts in the world. Additionally, the airport’s master plan foresees a series of projects, especially in the area of real estate development, with hotels, corporate towers, convention centers and other constructions.”

Unsurprisingly, these improvements are being implemented to raise the profile of GRU to such an extent that it will rival world leaders in the airport industry,

“Our goal is to place GRU among the main airports in the world, not only in regards to passenger and flight traffic, but also, most importantly, when it comes to service levels and infrastructure excellence. In a way, we accomplished this with the inauguration of terminal 3, but the project also requires the renovation of the old terminals. Once TPS1 and TPS2 have been remodeled, we are certain that Guarulhos will feature among the best airports in the world.”

We have absolutely no doubt that these ambitions will be realized as the team at GRU is clearly invested in more than mere site renovation. Never losing sight of what is truly important and who they are improving facilities and services for, the administration team at GRU has unquestionably crowned its customers as king and all that remains is to build a suitable throne.

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